Real Wedding: Nicole & Joe 7.16.11

I loved every aspect of my day. Everything went so smoothly and was incredibly easy. Since it would be odd to interview myself, I am going to use this post to feature my amazing vendors. I could not have had such a perfect day without them. This post may get a little long because I have to talk about each and every person. Plus I have so many photos to share!! Just warning you now…

I absolutely loved my hair! Brooke from Brooke Rockwell Hair Design is one of those people who is just downright impossible to dislike. She is as sweet as pie and darn good at what she does. As I mentioned I do have naturally curly hair. I was so concerned with those pesky little hairs along my forehead because I did not want them to do their curly weird thing that they tend to do when it is humid. As you know, this summer was a humid one. I don’t know what she did, but I never once had that problem.

See the woman in the background sizing up her blank slate? That, my friends, is Julie Marckisotto owner of Pittsburgh Makeup. I am not a girl who spends a ton of money or time doing my makeup. I like to do a little more for fun nights out, but not for my day to day. So when I went in for my trial run with Julie, I just told her that she could have her way with me. One thing I knew I wanted was air-brushed foundation. I used to HATE my freckles and curly hair, but as I grew older I learned to accept them as part of me and actually embrace both. I love the sun-kissed look I have in the summer when my freckles stand out just a little more than in the winter. I knew that I did not want so much foundation on my face that they were invisible. Julie did such a wonderful job with my makeup and I truly feel like I was just a more beautiful version of myself the day of my wedding. It was light and airy and I never felt like my face was going to melt off despite the 85-90 degree temperature that day.

Ok now lets move on to apparel. My dress is from David’s Bridal. But this is no stock dress. I found my dress and fell in love. I had that moment that everyone talks about when you just know. I really wanted to have some earrings that made a statement (which are from YJDesigns on Etsy) paired with a funky bracelet (from Jurgita Handmade also on Etsy). But the problem was that I wanted some bling! My gown had no bling It had gorgeous beading, but no shiny stuff. When I met Beteena Milacci owner of Beteena’s in Bridgeville, I knew my problems were over. Not only did she add gem stone details to my dress, but she made my gorgeous veil and the flower for my hair too. Oh and she altered my gown while she was at it. I kept her VERY busy!

The bakery appointment was one of the few that Joey insisted on being present. Of course, he wanted to taste the cake! We went to Signature Desserts because they have an awesome dessert package. Neither one of us are big cake people, so we wanted people to have an option. In fact, we did not even get enough cake for everyone to have a piece. Our desserts were set up as a buffet rather than served. The cookies were thoughtfully made by our friends and family. Of course we couldn’t skip the traditional cookie table! In fact, I am pretty sure I have enough frozen cookies, pies, cheesecakes, etc. to eat something every day for the next year.

Now let’s talk flowers… Bill Chisnell Productions is AMAZING! I honestly could have never imagined how wonderful my centerpieces, bouquets and boutonierres turned out. Bill and Allegra were so great to work with and so talented. I had an idea of what I wanted my centerpieces to look like, but they took them to a whole other level. Knowing that it would be difficult to find flowers that would go with my Tiffany blue and black theme, I knew I had to choose a third color to help the flowers pop. I saw a photo online of red with Tiffany blue and knew immediately that was my third color. Looking at these photos, I know I did not make a wrong decision. And tell me those Tiffany lamour linens from Mosaic don’t make all the difference?! I mean, they fell perfectly into my vision.

Now these are just the people who we have photos to prove their work. There was also Mr. Shannon Ritter of Power House Entertainment who provided our 80s Rock mix cocktail hour and dinner music. We didn’t want to go with the typical Frank and Dean for our dinner music, so we were happy when he obliged our request for 80s rock. He did a pretty great job of providing all our favorites. We also had Justin Yeckley of Iron City Productions behind the video camera documenting our day so I can force Joey to watch our ceremony every year on our anniversary

None of this would have been possible without the staff at the Mansion at Maple Heights. The best part is that I can say this without sounding conceited because I wasn’t technically a part of the staff yet. They know how grateful I am for everything…

Then of course the woman behind all of these gorgeous photos, Miss Erica Hilliard. She has such a great eye and is able to really create art. There are quite a few photos that I want to hang on my wall, not because they are my wedding photos, but because they really look like something you would buy in a gallery.

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on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 4:54 pm and is filed under Real Wedding.
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